


Stoke the 3 AM Embers

by ChronicCombustion



Series: The Stories We Tell At 3 AM [4]
Category: Champions of Norrath, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, EverQuest
Genre: Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Healthy Relationships, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-23 00:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4856279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChronicCombustion/pseuds/ChronicCombustion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of memories: ones that we've made and ones that have yet to be, but all are stories meant to be shared.</p><p>(Skyrim drabbles from my 3am Writing Challenge on tumblr. Some related, some not. Mild x-over with Champions of Norrath: Realms of Everquest.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cooking

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaijuindigo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kaijuindigo).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been a good while since he’d been home and he’d missed the feeling of being warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3am Challenge Day 13  
> Prompt: #48 - Cooking (600 words)  
> Song: The Lord of the Rings: The Musical - The Road Goes On
> 
> (Kiktar appears with permission from kaijuindigo~)

The fire crackled nicely in the large stone fireplace, encasing the whole of the main hall with its cozy glow.

It had been a good while since he’d been home – what with running off to do Lady Azura’s biding and then chasing after the caravans to visit his father on the way back. An altogether productive journey but his armor afforded very little heat and he’d missed the feeling of being warm.

Newly washed and dressed in a clean set of clothes, Casath knelt beside the hearth to examine a massive hunk of venison impaled on the iron cooking spit. “So far, so good,” he murmured, tugging off one of the leather gloves adorning his hands. He prodded gently at the skin of the meat, testing the amount of give with a calloused, charcoal-colored fingertip. “Yep. Just about done.”

“You’ll take any excuse to stick your hands into fire, won’t you?”

Tilting his head to face the speaker, Casath allowed a playful grin to stretch across his face. “I am a Dunmer, my love, fire is my plaything.” Sore muscles protesting, the dark elf pushed himself onto his feet with a soft grunt.

His wife chuckled. It was a gravely sound, harsh and clipped; a perfect match for her heavy Elswyr accent. “You amuse me, husband,” she rasped, furred tail flicking lazily. “Just because you are fireproof does not mean you must bathe in it.”

She stepped forward then, and wrapped lithe arms around her mate’s shoulders. “This one has missed you.”

Casath beamed. “I missed you, too, Kik.”

They stood like that for a long moment, just holding each other and resting their foreheads together. As exhausting as his journey had been, Casath knew that Kiktar would have had it so much worse on her own trip. Khajiit were desert creatures, after all, and High Hrothgar was just about the coldest place you could get to on the entire surface of Nirn.

The fire popped and hissed and by and by the dark elf begrudgingly pulled back in order to check for wayward sparks. “This should be ready in a bit,” he said, giving the meat a good couple of turns to look for any undercooked spots. He glanced up as Kik padded closer and leaned in. “If you needed to go change out of your armor…”

The Khajiit huffed. “Always trying to get me undressed.” She sniggered as Casath gave her a look of mock-indignation and swatted at him playfully with her tail.

Kik rested a hand on her husband’s shoulder and used it to help herself down onto the hearth beside him. She sat quietly for a moment, watching him crank the spit handle a few more times, before reaching over to the small iron pot just off to the side of the fire’s core. Delicately – as she wasn’t immune to flame like Casath was – Kiktar took hold of the wooden spoon and slowly began to stir the thin mixture inside.

“I am in no hurry,” she said quietly. Taking a spoonful of broth, she ladled it carefully over the venison.

They took their time, just sitting in silence before the fireplace as dinner finished cooking. Every so often Casath would check to see how tender the meat was and once in a while Kik would spread another bit of broth over the top. They didn’t speak much beyond the occasional murmur.

Rain began to fall softly outside, and the glow of the wall sconces burned low. The children were still in Whiterun, not set to join them for another day. All was quiet. All was calm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since my husband and I both play Skyrim, we've started shipping our dragonborns. Kiktar is his female Khajiit, and Casath is my male Dunmer. I even bought the Hearthfire DLC and then adopted Lucia and Sophie, just so these two could have kids.
> 
> Although when writing them together I usually just default to Kik being the Dovahkiin and Casath being the Champion of Azura. (Because I love that quest and he's a faithful little Dumner follower~)
> 
> Also, the bit about Casath and the caravans is based off a little headcanon I have where Casath's family actually traveled with a Khajiit caravan for a while as guards. As a result, Casath has a great respect and affection for the Khajiit race as a whole.


	2. Life Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am born, not as a Dunmer, but as a Teir’Dal: a dark elf formed from the twisted magic of Innoruuk of Hate, rather than by Lady Azura’s hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3am Challenge Day 20  
> Prompt: #94: Life Story (300 words)  
> Song: Adrian von Ziegler – The Sylvan’s Path
> 
> ("sister," "mother," and "sister's mother" all appear with permission from kaijuindigo~)

My mother names me Casath.

I am born, not as a Dunmer, but as a Teir’Dal: a dark elf formed from the twisted magic of Innoruuk of Hate, rather than by Lady Azura’s hand. But my father has rejected Innoruuk’s teachings, has married my mothers, has sired two children, and now none of us are safe on the plane of Norrath – especially not my sister and I, who have barely even seen our second moon.

So my family runs. My mother leads us to Faydark Forrest, the realm of the Feir’Dal, the wood elves that raised her as their own though she is a Teir’Dal and not truly one of them. Even there, though, my father is met with wariness. My sister and her mother are met with disgust. My sister’s mother is a half-breed, with human blood in her Feir’Dal veins; once a lowly servant before my parents took her to wife. Thus my sister is a patchwork of different bloods – an abomination in the eyes of my mother’s adopted family. We soon move on.

My sister’s mother is crafty; she bats her pretty blue eyes and convinces the harbormaster to let us onto the next ship out to another land. Father’s remaining gold ensures additional silence.

Six months pass, and when we finally exit the ship we have arrived in a town called Anvil, in a land called Cyrodiil. We take brief refuge within the town, but we are still fugitives and my parents dare not linger.

On the road outside of Anvil, Father and my mothers befriend a merchant named Ri’Saad. He is traveling north soon, says he is in need of guards for his caravan. He offers my parents a job. They accept.

My sister and I spend our childhoods in the company of the Khajiit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting back into the hang of this - since I screwed up and never actually finished this writing challenge last September. But I'm not moving out of my apartment this time, so I can at least catch up to where I left off last year. ^^; 
> 
> Anyways. Here's more on my precious Dunmer son, Casath.
> 
> Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest was my very first RPG, (though I never got to play EverQuest aside from CoN on the PS2, so I'm not as versed in the EverQuest lore as I am with Elder Scrolls,) and to this day it remains one of my favorite games - dated though it may be now.  
> I also RP as Gol Nazyn from CoN on tumblr. Inevitably everything crossed over in my head and Casath became Gol's son by my partner's Teir'Dal Champion; his sister (my partner's Bosmer Dovahkiin) being the daughter of Gol and one of my partner's tumblr RP muses. Cindorril (the sister,) Tila (the mother,) and Venn (the sister's mother) will all be eventually appearing in later prompts.
> 
> ...Gods, we both took this waaaaay too far.
> 
>  
> 
> Like my work? Wanna geek out with me? [Come and hit me up on tumblr!!](http://chroniccombustion.tumblr.com/) 0w0


	3. Life of the Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Khajiit is king of the trees!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3am Challenge Day 21  
> Prompt: #88: Life of the Party (400 words)  
> Song: The Legend of Dragoon OST – Whispering of Trees
> 
> (Cindorril, Tila, and Venn appear with permission from kaijuindigo~)

Despite having two mothers and a father, the tiny elf-kits that had become part of Ri’Saad’s caravan were often left in Atahbah’s care while their parents were on guard. Not that anyone minded; the female Khajiit was patient and attentive and the children adored her, so getting them to heed her instructions was a simple feat.

There were times, however, when it probably would have been better for Ri’Saad to watch them instead.

One such occasion came along at the end of a particularly lucrative month – just after their latest supply pickup, which had been heavy with high-selling items and a wealth of rations for the members of the caravan.

They made camp along the road. Ma’randru-jo helped Ri’Saad unload the tents while Khayla chopped firewood and Gol stood guard, Venn and Tila having already collected their bows and slunk away into the woods to hunt. Casath and Cindorril, for their part, stayed out from underfoot. Atahbah kept the elf-kits under a watchful eye as she dug through their new provisions for stew ingredients. No one paid any mind to the way she would occasionally stop and lick at her claws.

Once the elven women had returned and dinner was bubbling over the fire, the company took the opportunity to relax in the scant hours before nightfall. All was peaceful. And then Atahbah simply… wandered off.

Cin was the first to call out for her in concern, having become aware of just how long ‘Auntie’ had been gone. Just as Gol was getting to his feet to begin searching for their missing member, Atahbah suddenly burst forth from the treeline, startling the children and setting the adults on edge.

She was wrapped in vines, leafy twigs and shrubbery tangled into her fur. In her hands was a sapling, dirty roots clinging to the base where Atahbah had ripped it from the ground. “Khajiit is king of the trees!” she shouted. She held the sapling-turned-scepter aloft. “And this is Khajiit’s queen!” As she stroked its branches lovingly, the wad of roots and soil dropped to the ground with a plop.

Atahbah gaped in horror. “NO!” she wailed, “Khajiit has killed her only love! Live, my queen, liiiiive!” And with a long, anguished sob, Atahbah ran back into the shadow of the woods.

Everyone just stared after her in stunned silence – Ri’Saad already thinking of better places to hide the moon sugar…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO FUN STORY, the whole "king of the trees" thing actually happened. 
> 
> I did a couple of plays waaaaay back in high school, and one day before rehearsal our stage manager comes running onto the stage wrapped in plastic greenery and carrying a fake potted tree. He jumps up onto a set piece, shouts "I am the king of the trees!" and waves his fake tree around while yelling about how the tree is his queen. The plastic planter falls off the bottom of the tree and the dude just starts wailing like a baby before running off the stage screaming, "live, my queen!" (He also came back later with fake holly shoved into his pants, shouting,"hey guys, you think I should trim my bush?")
> 
> So yeah. Atahbah's drug-induced dialogue is essentially verbatim to our poor, over-worked stage manager from high school. Good times, man, good times...
> 
>  
> 
> Like my work? Wanna geek out with me? [Come and hit me up on tumblr!!](http://chroniccombustion.tumblr.com/) 0w0

**Author's Note:**

> Like my work? Wanna geek out with me? [Come and hit me up on tumblr!!](http://chroniccombustion.tumblr.com/) 0w0


End file.
